NASA discovers Earth-sized planet that could be habitable

NASA has discovered an Earth-sized planet that could potentially be habitable. Designated Kepler-186f and discovered about 500 light years away from home in the constellation Cygnus, this new planet is likely a rocky world and may be similar to Venus, Mars, and Earth. The system is also home to four other planets, orbiting around a host star about half the size and mass of the sun.

"This is the first definitive Earth-sized planet found in the habitable zone," said Elisa Quintana of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute at NASA. "Finding such planets is a primary goal of the Kepler space telescope."

The instituted stated, "This discovery not only proves the existence of worlds that might be similar to our own, but will undoubtedly shape future investigations of exoplanets that could have terrestial surface environments."